Jib crane construction having a vertical conveyer



July 7, 1970 B. MOELLER' 3,519,146

JIB CRANE CONSTRUCTION HAVING A VERTICAL CONVEYER Filed Jan. 25, 1968 MM5M1 W United StatcsrPatcnt O."

Int. Cl: B65g 67/58 US. Cl. 214-14 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Ajib crane carries a vertical conveyor such as a chain conveyor or bucketelevator for bulk goods or loose flowable material. The crane framecomprises parallel upper and lower jibs, one of the jibs being mountedfor pivoting movement in a vertical plane, about a horizontal axis onthe crane frame. The other jib has its inner end hingedly connected toan inner yoke beam itself hingedly connected to said horizontal axis ofthe first mentioned jib, and its outer end is hingedly connected to anouter yoke beam itself hingedly connected to the free end of saidpre-mentioned jib. The vertical conveyor is rigidly connected to saidouter yoke beam. The two inner and outer yoke beams also are paralleland, together with the two parallel upper and lower jibs, form a linkparallelogram for transmitting movement to the vertical conveyor.

This invention relates to jib cranes in which the jib supports avertical conveyor, particularly for conveying piece goods or looseflowable material, having a pick-up or delivery nozzle at its lower endfor loading or unloading the material to be conveyed. Cranes of thistype are advantageously used in port installations for unloading orloading ships moored along piers. The goods to be transferred into orout of ships can include coal, grain, bananas and other materials, aslong as such materials can be conveyed by usual vertical conveyors, suchas chain conveyors, bag or bucket elevators and the like.

For the mentioned use of jib cranes having a vertical conveyor it is ofparticular importance to provide for a wide range of adjustment of thepick-up or nozzle end of the vertical conveyor carried by the jib of thecrane, to be able to adapt the nozzle end to the type of the ship to beloaded or unloaded or to the water level along the pier where the shipis moored. Such jib cranes also may be used to transfer coal heaps, formoving Wheat and corn or fertilizer in silo compartments, and for manylike applications.

It is a main task of such cranes to be able to rapidly move and adjustthe conveyor nozzle to any point of an extended operating area, and therequirements are that the conveyor nozzle, when moved to a certainpoint, travels along a path which is as direct and straight as possible.

According to the present invention, the crane construction comprises acrane frame, two jibs carried by said frame and arranged one above theother for pivoting movement about horizontal axes, the pivoting axis ofone of said jibs being adjustable with respect to said frame, and anouter yoke beam rigidly carrying said vertical conveyor, said yoke beambeing hingedly connected to said upper jib and to said lower jib forrelative pivoting movement about horizontal axes, whereby the one jibforms a carrying arm for said vertical conveyor and the other jib formsan adjustable supporting arm therefor.

The invention will now be more fully described with reference to theaccompanying drawing illustrating by 3,519,146 Patented July 7, 1970 wayof example and diagrammatically a crane construction according to theinvention having a vertical conveyor for use in port loading orunloading installations.

A conveyor crane 1 is positioned on a pier 8 along which it is movableon rails 9 and 10. A crane frame comprising upper and lower frameportions 14, 14' above the rails is mounted on crane-travel gearing 15and 16. An upper jib 3 is mounted on a horizontal pin 22 of the frame 14for pivoting movement in a vertical plane. The jib 3 carries at itsforward end a journal pin 21 on which is mounted an outer yoke beam 4which in turn carries the vertical conveyor unit '6 rigidly fixedthereto and having an intake or pick-up nozzle 13. For balancing theweight of the parts of the crane at the left hand side of the journalpin 22, the rear end of the upper jib 3 carries a counter weight 11.

The means for tilting the upper jib 3 about the axis of the pin 22 in avertical plane are conventional and are indicated by way of examplediagrammatically only; a cable winch 17 may be mounted on the frame 14with the cable 18 attached to the rear end of the jib 3.

A lower jib 2 extends parallel to the upper jib 3 and is pivotallyconnected by one end to the outer yoke beam 4 and by its other end to aninner yoke beam 5. The lower and upper jibs 2 and 3 form two oppositesides of a parallel link motion, the two other sides of which are formedby the yoke beams 4 and 5, respectively. The lower points ofarticulation of the parallelogram are formed by a journal pin 23connecting the outer end of the jib 2 to the yoke beam 4, and by ajournal pin 24 connecting the inner end of the jib 2 with the yoke beam5.

The operation of the crane is effected from a control cabin 12 by anattendant who can watch the position of the intake nozzle 13 of thevertical conveyor 6 in almost any position of the boat 7 to be unloaded.The highest position of the boat depending on the water level and on theloading of the boat is drawn in dash-and-dot lines in the figure.

It is visible from the drawing that the described crane operates withfour principal movements of its component parts. On the rails 9 and 10the crane as a whole moves rectilinearly along the pier 8. The jib 3 andthe parts of the crane carried thereby can be made to turn about avertical axis 25 in any conventional manner, for example by providing arotary platform 19 carrying the upper portion 14 of the frame and thenecessary equipment for rotating the upper portion of the frame withrespect to the lower portion 14 resting on the travel gearing 15 and 16,as is well known in tower cranes. For vertical movement of the verticalconveyor 6 the jibs 2 and 3 can pivot upwardly and downwardly abouttheir inner journal pins 24 and 22, respectively.

The fourth movement is essential and consists in that the verticalconveyor 6, with the upper jib 3 remaining stationary, can effect apivoting movement about the axis of rotation 21 of the yoke arm 4, thispivoting movement being effected by a shifting of the inner journal pin24. In the example shown, the arrangement is such that the inner yokebeam 5 is pivotally mounted on the upper journal pin 22, whereby thelower journal pin 24 of the parallelogram may be brought for exampleinto a position 241. The vertical conveyor 6 and the outer yoke beam 4then move into positions drawn in dash-and-dot lines. By a combinationof the two last named movements, namely an angular movement of the jibs2 and 3 about the journal pins 24 and 22, an extremely convenientresulting movement of the vertical conveyor 6 and its nozzle 13 forloading and unloading ships is obtained.

It is not required that the pivoting axis for the inner yoke beam 5coincides with the pivoting axis 22 of the upper jib 3. The pivotingaxis of the yoke beam could be situated at a position somewhat displacedwith respect to the axis 22.

The inner yoke beam 5 also could be omitted and replaced by a guidewayor the like provided in the framing 14, along which guide-way thejournal pin 24 could be movable. Also, the members 2, 3, 4 and 5 neednot form a parallelogram. When the yoke 5 is omitted, the distancesbetween the axes of rotation 21 and 22, on the one hand, and 23 and 24,on the other hand, can be different, and moreover, the connecting linesbetween the axes 21 and 22, and between the axes 23 and 24 have not tobe parallel. It is to be remarked that when the four members 2, 3, 4, 5form a trapezoid instead of a parallelogram, or with any other shape ofthe combination four hinge jib (hinges 21, 22, 23 and 24), the verticalconveyor is no longer displaced parallel to itself upon a pivotingmovement of the upper jib 3 about the axis 22, but in addition to thetranslatory movement imparted thereto when the members 2, 3, 4, 5 form aparallogram, the conveyor will also effect a pivoting movement. Forcertain particular applications of the crane, such a composite movementof the vertical conveyer 6 may be desirable.

For moving the parallelogram or trapezoid structure 2, 3, 4, 5, or anygeneral four hinge jib (hinges 21, 22, 23, 24), when the jib 3 remainsstationary, the journal pin 24 at the inner end of the lower jib 2 mustbe displaced relatively to the frame 14. For effecting such movement ofthe lower jib known mechanical or hydraulic power transmission means canbe used. It is particularly convenient to provide a cable winch inproximity to the control cabin 12 on the frame 14 for moving the lowerjib 2. In this case it is advantageous to locate the center of gravityof the combined outer yoke beam 4 and vertical conveyor 6 outside of avertical plane passing through the journal in 21 with respect to theframe 14, whereby always a compression force is transmitted by the jowerjib 2 on the journal pin 24 which force is tending to move the jib 2towards the right in the figure, the jib being maintained in itsposition by the cable of the winch 20 and being movable towards the leftby winding up the cable on the winch.

A displacement of the parallelogram 2, 3, 4, 5 would also be possible bya further cable winch acting between the journal pins 21 and 24. Thismanner of displacing the parallelogram, however, would have theinconvenience that the supplemental charge of the upper jib 3 would beunduly increased. With the winch 20 situated close to the control cabin12 on the crane frame 14 for moving the journal pin 24, a correspondingcounter torque is transmitted by the lower jib 2 and the yoke beam 4 onthe upper jib 3, causing only an increase of the tensile stress in thejib 3.

All parts of the jib crane, such as for example the jibs 2 and 3 and theyoke beams 4 and 5 can be made in conventional manner as a web girder orlattice girder construction.

Conventional means can be provided for transfer of the material conveyedby the vertical conveyors 6 to or from a horizontal conveyor carried bythe lower jib 2. By reducing the length of the lower jib 2 with respectto the upper jib 3, it is possible to obtain a desirable more linearmovement path of the intake nozzle 13 of the vertical conveyor in acertain limited range when the upper jib is swung about the axis 22.This movement of the nozzle 13 can be of interest when this latter hasto be lowered through a vertical shaft or into the hold of a ship.

I claim:

1. In a jib crane for conveying material to or from a ship, thecombination comprising a frame, a vertical conveyor means for conveyingmaterial and for extending to and having swinging movement within theship, a first jib pivotally mounted on said frame for turning in avertical plane about a first horizontal axis, a second jib spacedvertically from said first jib and mounted on said frame for transversemovement relative to said frame, a yoke beam pivotally mounted on saidfirst jib for swinging about a second horizontal axis, said yoke beamcarrying said vertical conveyor means and raising and lowering thelatter with pivotal movement of said first jib about said firsthorizontal axis, said second jib being connected to said yoke beam forpivoting the same about said second horizontal axis and an adjustingdevice for shifting said second jib independently of said first jib toswing said yoke and said vertical conveyor means about said second axisrelative to said first jib to swing said vertical conveyor means acrosssaid material without causing a substantial change in force at thesurface between said material and said vertical conveyor means.

2. A crane in accordance with claim 1 in which guide means are providedfor mounting said second jib and in which said adjusting device engagessaid second jib at said guide means.

3. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which holding means are providedon said frame for holding said first jib against being pivoteddownwardly by said yoke beam and said vertical conveyor means whichdepend from said first jib.

4. A jib crane in accordance with claim 3 in which said holding meansincludes a winch and a pulling member extending from said winch to saidfirst jib.

5. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which said second jib is mountedat an end thereof at a pivot point to said frame and is adjustablethrough said pivot point relative to said frame.

6. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which the ad justing device ismounted at an end thereof to said frame.

7. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which said adjusting deviceincludes a winch and a pulling member extending from said winch to saidsecond jib.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,357,919 11/1920 While et al.19822'0* XR 1,421,787 7/1922 Kininmonth 198-418 XR 2,425,342 8/1947Palmer 214-14 XR 3,387,721 6/1968 Ludwig 214--14 ROBERT G. SHERIDAN,Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 19894, 96

